Iconicity in L2 Japanese speakers’ multi-modal language use

要旨

Japanese mimetics are often reported to be difficult for speakers of Japanese as a second/foreign language (L2). Recent work examining L2 Japanese learners’ comprehension/perception (e.g., Naito-Billen 2013 ; Nakaishi et al. 2014 ) found that understanding mimetics is indeed challenging even for advanced learners, but less is known about L2 speakers’ spontaneous use of mimetics and gesture, which are known to co-occur ( Kita 1997 ). We examined the use of mimetics and co-speech gesture by L2 Japanese speakers whose first language (L1) is either English or Korean, focusing on narrations of video clips. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the role of L2 Japanese speakers’ L1 and their L2 proficiency in the use of mimetics (highly iconic phonomimes and less iconic phenomimes) and co-speech gesture. Our analyses show that differences in the availability of mimetics in a speaker’s L1 affect the use of L2 mimetics and gesture in a subtle manner. Regardless of L1, L2 Japanese speakers produced iconic co-speech gestures accompanying mimetics, especially for phonomimes. While the frequency of mimetics use does not correlate with the level of proficiency, the pattern of mimetic-gesture synchronization seems to reflect L2 proficiency. The results are discussed in terms of the two modes of representations involved in language use ( Kita 1997 ; Dingemanse and Akita 2017 ).

主題